Monetary information processing server and monetary information processing method

ABSTRACT

An object of the present invention is to deposit money to a monetary terminal using an account in a financial institution. 
     When remitting money for charging up a monetary terminal to a center account  31,  the user inputs to a banking system  3  remitter information containing a name (in katakana characters) and a monetary terminal ID of the monetary terminal that is to be charged up. In response to this, the banking system  3  transmits a remittance amount and the remitter information to an electronic money server  2.  The electronic money server  2  extracts the name of the user and the monetary terminal ID from the received remitter information, and checks them against user registration information. Thereafter, the electronic money server  2  generates amount update information within the remitted amount, and transmits it to a cell phone  7  or an electronic money card  15,  which is identified by the monetary terminal ID.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/707,708, filed Feb. 16, 2007, the entire contents of which isincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a monetary information processingserver and a monetary information processing method, which, for example,deposit a sum of money to an electronic money card by remitting the sumto a financial account.

Description of the Related Art

In recent years, settlement systems using electronic money have beenintroduced to retail shops and department stores, and come into wideuse.

The electronic money has a monetary value, called “VALUE”, which isequivalent to money and stored to a monetary terminal such as anelectronic money card or a cell phone compatible with the electronicmoney, and the monetary terminal is used as an electronic wallet.

The process of writing the “VALUE” to the monetary terminal is referredto as “charging up”, which can be performed using a dedicated terminaldevice (hereinafter, an “electronic money terminal”) installed at astore such as a retail shop, or can be performed from an electronicmoney server via the Internet.

Settlement by the monetary terminal is performed by subtracting apayment amount from the “VALUE” stored in the monetary terminal, and asin the case of charging up, the settlement can be performed using theelectronic money terminal or the electronic money server.

An invention that uses the electronic money in a manner as describedabove is disclosed by the present applicant in unpublished PatentApplication No. 2003-61943.

In this invention, a cell phone provided with an Internet connectionfunction and an electronic money function accesses the electronic moneyserver, and charges itself up with electronic money while communicatingwith the electronic money server.

This invention allows the user to perform the charging-up, for example,without being restricted to any physical locations and business hours.

When charging up the monetary terminal, the user is required to pay anamount of money for the charging-up to an electronic money center inorder to associate “VALUE” with actual money.

For performing the charging-up from the electronic money terminal, theuser pays money to a clerk at a retail shop or the like, whereas forperforming the charging-up from the electronic money server via theInternet, the user pays money using a credit card previously registeredwith the electronic money center.

However, there might be some users who wish to perform the charging-upby way of the Internet but do not have a credit card, and therefore, inorder to allow the electronic money to be used more generally, it isnecessary to provide means for performing the charging-up that can bereadily used by more users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to allow money to bedeposited to the monetary terminal using an account in a financialinstitution.

To achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention isdirected to a monetary information processing server for transmittingamount update information to a monetary terminal forincreasing/decreasing an amount of a monetary value based on the amountupdate information, the monetary value being stored in the monetaryterminal, the server including: an amount acquisition section foracquiring from a banking system an amount remitted to a predeterminedfinancial account and monetary terminal identification informationspecified at a time of the remittance; an amount update informationtransmission section for transmitting amount update information forincreasing a monetary value by a predetermined amount so as not toexceed a range of the remitted amount to a monetary terminal identifiedby the acquired monetary terminal identification information; and anamount decrease section for decreasing the amount acquired from thebanking system by an amount that is to be added based on the amountupdate information.

In a second aspect of the present invention, based on the first aspect,the monetary information processing server further includes an amountreception section for receiving an amount of a monetary value stored inthe monetary terminal identified by the monetary terminal identificationinformation from the same monetary terminal, and the amount updateinformation transmission section transmits amount update informationwithin a range not exceeding an amount limit previously set for themonetary terminal based on the received amount.

In a third aspect of the present invention, based on the first or secondaspect, the monetary information processing server further includes adivision section for, when the amount acquired from the banking systemis beyond a predetermined amount, dividing the acquired amount into unitamounts, and the amount update information transmission sectiontransmits amount update information for adding a unit amount obtained bydividing the acquired amount.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, based on the first, second,or third aspect, the monetary information processing server furtherincludes a transmission preparation completion notice transmissionsection for, when preparation for transmitting the amount updateinformation is completed, transmitting a transmission preparationcompletion notice to a destination associated with the monetaryterminal.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, based on any one of thefirst through fourth aspects, the monetary information processing serverfurther includes an amount accumulation section for accumulating anamount acquired by the amount acquisition section for each monetaryterminal identified by the monetary terminal identification information,and the amount decrease section decreases the accumulated amount foreach monetary terminal having transmitted amount update information.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, based on any one of thefirst through fifth aspects, the monetary terminal identificationinformation is information that, along with an amount, has been inputtedto the banking system by a remitter.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is directed to a monetaryinformation processing method for use in a computer having an amountacquisition section, an amount update information transmission section,and an amount decrease section, the computer transmitting amount updateinformation to a monetary terminal for increasing/decreasing an amountof a monetary value based on the amount update information, the monetaryvalue being stored in the monetary terminal, the method including: anamount acquisition step performed by the amount acquisition section foracquiring from a banking system an amount remitted to a predeterminedfinancial account and monetary terminal identification informationspecified at a time of the remittance; an amount update informationtransmission step performed by the amount update informationtransmission section for transmitting amount update information forincreasing a monetary value by a predetermined amount so as not toexceed a range of the remitted amount to a monetary terminal identifiedby the acquired monetary terminal identification information; and anamount decrease step performed by the amount decrease section fordecreasing the amount acquired from the banking system by an amount thatis to be added based on the amount update information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to deposit money to amonetary terminal using an account in a financial institution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the basic configuration of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary remittance screen.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of theembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic moneycard.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a cell phone.

FIG. 6 is a table illustrating a logical configuration of userregistration information.

FIG. 7 is a table illustrating a logical configuration of remittanceamount information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic moneyserver.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for registering aremittance amount and remitter information.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for charging up amonetary terminal with remitted money.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary charge-up screen.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (1) Basic Configuration of anEmbodiment

Hereinafter, the basic configuration of an embodiment will be describedwith reference to FIG. 1.

A banking system 3 is an online system of a bank, which accepts accessfrom users to ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) terminals and websites onthe Internet and allows money to be deposited to or withdrawn/remittedfrom the users' accounts.

The electronic money center is a business entity that managescirculation of electronic money, and has a center account 31 open in abank in order to accept deposit of money with which to charge upmonetary terminals.

The user remits money with which to charge up the monetary terminal tothe center account 31.

When remitting the money, the user who is the remitter inputs to thebanking system 3 his/her name (in katakana characters) and a monetaryterminal ID of the monetary terminal that is to be charged up.

Here, the monetary terminal ID constitutes monetary terminalidentification information for identifying the monetary terminal.

Note that the banking system 3 is also capable of accepting remittancesfrom other banks and financial institutions to the center account 31.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary remittance screen. The remittance screenis displayed on an ATM terminal.

In the case of accessing the banking system 3 via the Internet to make aremittance from a terminal device such as a PC (personal computer), asimilar screen is displayed on the display of the PC.

The remittance screen presents fields such as “remittance amount”,“withdrawal account”, “remittance destination” and “remitter”, and theuser fills in these fields.

The “remittance amount” field is filled in with an amount that is to beremitted to the center account 31, i.e., an amount of money with whichto charge up the monetary terminal. This amount can be entered usingunillustrated numeric keys.

The “withdrawal account” field is filled in with information, such asthe user's account number, which identifies a financial account fromwhich the money with which to charge up the monetary terminal isprovided.

Note that it is possible that the banking system 3 may automaticallyfill in the field, for example, using the user's cash card data (in thecase of an ATM terminal) or the user's authentication information (inthe case of a website).

In the example of FIG. 2, Gotanda branch of ABC bank is designated asthe bank where the withdrawal account is held, and the withdrawalaccount is a savings account identified by account number 1234567. Theaccount holder is shown as “YAMADA, Taro”. In such a manner, on thebanking system 3, names/denominations of account holders are displayedin katakana characters.

The “remittance destination” field is filled in with information foridentifying the center account 31.

In the example of the figure, the center account 31 is a savings accountwith account number 7654321 at Tamachi branch of Iroha bank. The accountholder is “electronic money center”.

This field is filled in by the user, who is prompted to enter the firstletter of the name for each of the bank and the branch to narrow downoptions to the specific branch, and thereafter enter the account numberof the center account 31 using numeric keys.

The “remitter” filed is filled in with remitter information includingthe name of the user and a monetary terminal ID, which are entered inthis order without putting a space between them. This field can befilled in by using unillustrated character and numeric keys.

As will be described later, the user has previously registered themonetary terminal ID of the monetary terminal, his/her name, etc., withthe electronic money center, and therefore the user enters valuesregistered with the electronic money center in the “remitter” field.Note that the remitter information is used later by the electronic moneyserver 2 for identifying the monetary terminal that is to be charged up,and the remitter information constitutes monetary terminalidentification information for identifying the monetary terminal that isto be charged up.

The remittance screen is further provided with a deposit button and areturn button, and the user selects the deposit button to validate theentries or the return button to correct the entries.

These buttons are each selected by, in the case of an ATM, gentlytouching a portion where the button is displayed (the ATM screen isassumed to be composed of a touch panel), whereas in the case of a PC,the selection is made by, for example, clicking on the button with amouse.

When the deposit button is selected, the banking system 3 remits themoney deposited by the user to the center account 31.

Referring back to FIG. 1, when the money is remitted to the centeraccount 31, the banking system 3 transmits the remittance amount and theremitter information (the name of the user and the monetary terminal ID)to the electronic money server 2.

Upon receipt of these pieces of information from the banking system 3,the electronic money server 2 extracts the name of the user and themonetary terminal ID from the remitter information.

Then, the electronic money server 2 checks (matches) them against thename of the user (in katakana characters) and the monetary terminal IDthat are contained in previously registered user registrationinformation, and if the two combinations are identical, the electronicmoney server 2 confirms that the remittance has been made by the userhimself/herself.

The electronic money server 2 has stored therein the user registrationinformation containing the monetary terminal ID in association with anelectronic mail address.

Upon confirmation that the remittance has been made by the userhimself/herself, the electronic money server 2 transmits notificationmail, which notifies that preparation for charging up the monetaryterminal has been completed, to the electronic mail address registeredby the user.

Here, the notification mail constitutes a transmission preparationcompletion notice that notifies the user that the preparation forcharging-up has been completed (the preparation for transmitting amountupdate information as described later has been completed).

The following description of the present embodiment is given on theassumption that the cell phone 7 and the electronic money card 15 areused as monetary terminals.

As will be described in detail below, each of the cell phone 7 and theelectronic money card 15 has stored therein a monetary value in the formof information called “VALUE”, and each of them is embedded with an ICchip having a function of increasing/decreasing the amount of “VALUE”.

First, in the case where the monetary terminal designated as a targetfor charging-up by the user is the cell phone 7, the user normally hasalready registered an electronic mail address for the cell phone 7.

Therefore, the user receives notification mail on the cell phone 7, andafter checking the mail, the user connects the cell phone 7 to a cellphone website 32.

After the user is authenticated at the cell phone website 32 based on auser ID, a password, etc., the user requests the electronic money server2 for charging-up.

In response to this, the electronic money server 2 generates amountupdate information within the range of the remitted amount, andtransmits it to the cell phone 7.

The cell phone 7 updates the amount of stored “VALUE” to an amount afterthe charging-up based on the amount update information.

On the other hand, in the case where the monetary terminal designated asa target for charging-up by the user is the electronic money card 15,the user charges it up with “VALUE” via the PC 17.

The PC 17 includes, as a peripheral device, an unillustrated relaycalled a “reader/writer” (which will be described below), and is capableof communicating with the electronic money card 15 via thereader/writer.

The user checks the notification mail on the PC 17 or another terminaldevice, and thereafter places the electronic money card 15 in thereader/writer to connect the PC 17 to a PC website 33.

Then, after user authentication by the electronic money server 2 iscompleted, the user requests the electronic money server 2 for chargingup with “VALUE”.

In response to this, the electronic money server 2 generates amountupdate information within the range of the remitted amount, andtransmits it to the PC 17.

The PC 17 receives the amount update information from the electronicmoney server 2, and inputs it to the electronic money card 15.

The electronic money card 15 updates the amount of stored “VALUE” to anamount after the charging-up based on the amount update information.

Thus, by remitting money to a financial account designated by theelectronic money center and inputting an ID of a monetary terminal thatis to be charged up, the user can charge up the monetary terminalidentified by the monetary terminal ID with “VALUE” using the remittedmoney.

In addition, the center account 31 can receive money remitted from anyfinancial institutions, such as city banks, regional banks, long-termtrust banks, Internet banks, deposit unions, worker's deposit unions andpostal savings banks, without limiting financial institutions from whichto make a remittance to any specific type, and therefore it is possibleto provide abundant opportunities for the users to deposit money.

(2) Overall Configuration of the Present Embodiment

The overall configuration of the present embodiment will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 3.

The electronic money system 1 shown in FIG. 3 includes the bankingsystem 3, the electronic money server 2, the Internet 4, a base station5, a telephone line network 6, the cell phone 7, the electronic moneycard 15, the electronic money terminals 8, 8, 8, . . . , the PC 17, andthe reader/writer 16.

The electronic money terminal 8 is a terminal device provided at a shopor the like for accessing a contactless-type IC card and exclusivelyconfigured for electronic money business.

The electronic money terminal 8 includes a reader/writer portionincluding an antenna, and is capable of transmitting/receiving electricwaves by the antenna to perform short-range wireless communication withcontactless-type IC chips embedded in monetary terminals such as theelectronic money card 15 and the cell phone 7.

By wirelessly communicating with the monetary terminals, the electronicmoney terminal 8 can read monetary terminal IDs assigned to the monetaryterminals and balances of “VALUE” stored in the monetary terminals, andalso can input amount update information to the monetary terminals toincrease/decrease the amount of “VALUE”.

Here, the amount update information is information forincreasing/decreasing the amount of “VALUE” stored in the monetaryterminal by a predetermined amount, and specific examples thereof aregiven below.

In the case of performing a process for adding/subtracting “VALUE”to/from the monetary terminal, the amount update information acts as acommand for the monetary terminal to add/subtract a designated amount of“VALUE”. The monetary terminal executes the command to add/subtract thedesignated amount to/from the amount of “VALUE”.

In the case of performing a process to add/subtract “VALUE” using adevice external to the monetary terminal, e.g., the electronic moneyterminal 8 or the electronic money server 2, the amount updateinformation indicates an amount after the addition/subtraction process.

In such a case, the external device acquires an amount of currentlystored “VALUE” from the monetary terminal, and adds/subtracts apredetermined amount thereto/therefrom to input an amount after theaddition/subtraction to the monetary terminal.

The monetary terminal alters the amount of “VALUE” based on the inputtedamount.

While two approaches about the amount update information have beendescribed above, they can be used in combination.

For example, the addition process may be performed outside the monetaryterminal, and an amount after the process may be inputted to themonetary terminal, so that the monetary terminal can alter the amount of“VALUE” to the inputted amount. As for the subtraction process, asubtraction command may be inputted to the monetary terminal so that thesubtraction process is performed by the monetary terminal.

The electronic money terminal 8 is capable of increasing/decreasing the“VALUE” stored in the monetary terminal in the above manner. Therefore,when charging up the monetary terminal, a sum of money equivalent to anamount used for charging-up is collected from the user, and instead ofcollecting a payment for merchandize or a service from the user, thepayment can be settled by decreasing “VALUE” in the monetary terminal,thereby circulating the “VALUE” in place of cash.

In addition, the electronic money terminal 8 is provided so as to beconnectable to the electronic money server 2 via a communication line,and the electronic money terminal 8 accumulates log data containing arecord of the details of communication with the electronic money card15, and transmits the log data approximately once a day to theelectronic money server 2 by batch processing.

The log data contains information such as the monetary terminal ID ofthe monetary terminal that has processed “VALUE”, the amount used forcharging-up, the settlement amount, the process date and time, the ID ofthe electronic money terminal 8 that has processed the settlement, andthe electronic money server 2 is able to summarize the usage and balanceof “VALUE” for each monetary terminal based on the log data.

The electronic money card 15 is a monetary terminal for storing “VALUE”(a monetary value) and increasing/decreasing the amount of “VALUE” basedon the amount update information, and as shown in FIG. 4, the electronicmoney card 15 is composed of card-shaped synthetic resin having embeddedtherein an IC chip 112 and a terminal antenna 135 connected thereto.

The terminal antenna 135 has a function of generating power withelectric waves emitted by the electronic money terminal 8 or thebelow-described reader/writer 16 to supply power to the IC chip 112 anda function of performing short-range wireless communication with theelectronic money terminal 8 and the reader/writer 16.

In addition, the monetary terminal ID stored in the IC chip 112 isprinted on the surface of the electronic money card 15, so that the usercan input the monetary terminal ID to the banking system 3 by referringto the indication.

The IC chip 112 is a contactless-type IC chip on which a CPU 132, a ROM133, a RAM 134, a memory section 136, a terminal communication section131, etc., are formed.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 132 is a central processor forexecuting a VALUE processing program stored in the memory section 136 tocause the electronic money card 15 to carry out an electronic moneyprocessing function.

Thus, the CPU 132 performs processes for outputting the balance of“VALUE” and the monetary terminal ID to the electronic money terminal 8,etc., and receiving the amount update information from the electronicmoney terminal 8, etc., to update the amount of stored “VALUE”.

The memory section 136 is a readable/writable memory for storing avariety of types of programs and data. The information stored in thememory section 136 can be held even if no power is provided to the ICchip 112, and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM (ElectricallyErasable and Programmable ROM).

The programs stored in the memory section 136 include a VALUE processingprogram and an OS (Operating System), which is a basic program forcausing the IC chip 112 to function.

In addition, the data stored in the memory section 136 includes themonetary terminal ID, the current balance of “VALUE” and communicationlog data.

The ROM (Read Only Memory) 133 is a read-only memory having storedtherein programs and data that are essential to allow the IC chip 112 tofunction.

The RAM (Random Access Memory) 134 is a readable/writable memory forproviding working memory for the CPU 132 to carry out the VALUEprocessing function.

In addition, the terminal communication section 131 is an interfaceconnected to the terminal antenna 135 to communicate with the electronicmoney terminal 8 and the reader/writer 16.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the PC 17 is a terminal device composed of apersonal computer connectable to the Internet 4.

The PC 17 is connected to the reader/writer 16 as a peripheral device.Similar to the electronic money terminal 8, the reader/writer 16includes an antenna for communicating with the terminal antenna 135 ofthe electronic money card 15, so that the PC 17 can perform short-rangewireless communication with the electronic money card 15 via thereader/writer 16.

Therefore, by placing the electronic money card 15 in the reader/writer16 and connecting the PC 17 to the electronic money server 2, it is madepossible for the electronic money server 2 to communicate with theelectronic money card 15 via the PC 17 and the reader/writer 16.

By communicating with the electronic money card 15 in this manner, theelectronic money server 2 can acquire the current balance of “VALUE” andthe monetary terminal ID from the electronic money card 15, or it cantransmit the amount update information to the electronic money card 15to charge up the electronic money card 15 with “VALUE” or subtract“VALUE” to make a settlement.

In addition to the function as a phone, the cell phone 7 has a functionof connecting to the Internet, and furthermore, the cell phone 7 isembedded with a contactless-type IC chip similar to the IC chip 112 ofthe electronic money card 15.

Although not shown, the cell phone 7 includes a display and aloudspeaker as output means, and also includes input means such as amicrophone, character keys, numeric keys, and operating keys forperforming various operations.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the functional configuration ofthe cell phone 7. As shown in FIG. 5, the cell phone 7 includes a phonefunction portion 10 for carrying out the function as anInternet-connectable cell phone, an electronic money function portion 12composed of a contactless IC chip for carrying out the electronic moneyprocessing function, and an interface portion 11 for connecting thesetwo portions.

Because of the electronic money function portion 12, the cell phone 7 isable to carry out the electronic money processing function in a mannersimilar to the electronic money card 15, and constitutes a monetaryterminal.

The phone function portion 10 is capable of wireless communication withthe base station 5 (FIG. 3), and connecting via the base station 5 tothe telephone line, network 6 (to make a call) and the Internet 4 (toaccess the electronic money server 2).

The phone function portion 10 has an application 26 installed therein.The application 26 is an application for providing various servicesrelated to the electronic money, and includes a relay section 27 foraccessing the electronic money function portion 12 via the interfaceportion 11.

The application 26 has a function for presenting information stored inthe electronic money function portion 12 to the user, e.g., theapplication 26 accesses the electronic money function portion 12 todisplay the monetary terminal ID, the balance of “VALUE”, log data,etc., on the display. The user can input the monetary terminal ID to thebanking system 3 based on the displayed information.

Furthermore, the application 26 communicates with the electronic moneyserver 2 via the Internet 4.

Thus, the monetary terminal ID, the balance of “VALUE”, etc., that arestored in the electronic money function portion 12 can be transmitted tothe electronic money server 2, and amount update information transmittedfrom the electronic money server 2 can be inputted to the electronicmoney function portion 12.

Although not shown, the electronic money function portion 12 is composedof a terminal antenna and a contactless-type IC chip on which elementssuch as a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a memory section and a terminalcommunication section are formed as in the electronic money card 15, andthe CPU executes the VALUE processing program to form a VALUE processingsection 28 shown in FIG. 5.

The memory section 29 is composed of, for example, an EEPROM, and hasstored therein the monetary terminal ID, the balance of “VALUE”, logdata, etc.

The VALUE processing section 28 outputs the monetary terminal ID and thebalance of “VALUE” in accordance with an instruction from an outsidecommunication destination or receives the amount update information froman outside communication destination to update the balance of “VALUE”.

The electronic money terminal 8 and the electronic money server 2 can becommunication destinations of the VALUE processing section 28.

In the case of communicating with the electronic money terminal 8, theVALUE processing section 28 performs wireless communication via theterminal antenna included therein. In this case, the user places thecell phone 7 near the electronic money terminal 8 as in the case of theelectronic money card 15.

In the case of communicating with the electronic money server 2, theVALUE processing section 28 communicates via the application 26 with theelectronic money server 2 on the Internet 4.

By communicating with the electronic money terminal 8 or the electronicmoney server 2 to input the amount update information to the electronicmoney function portion 12 in the above manner, the cell phone 7 cancharge up the electronic money function portion 12 with “VALUE” or makea settlement by “VALUE” in the electronic money function portion 12.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the electronic money server 2 is a monetaryinformation processing server for managing circulation of “VALUE”. Theelectronic money server 2 connects to the Internet 4, the electronicmoney terminals 8, 8, 8, . . . , and the banking system 3 via acommunication line.

The electronic money server 2 carries out various functions such as awebsite operation function, a user registration function, a remittedmoney processing function and a transaction processing function.

In addition, in order to carry out these functions, the electronic moneyserver 2 includes a user information database 53, a remittance amountdatabase 54, a transaction information database 55, and various otherdatabases.

[Website Operation Function]

The electronic money server 2 operates websites related to electronicmoney services on the Internet 4, and the websites include the cellphone website 32 for cell phones 7 and the PC website 33 as shown inFIG. 1.

[User Registration Function]

The electronic money server 2 registers users of the monetary terminalswith the user information database 53. In addition to the initialregistration of the users, the electronic money server 2 also performsderegistration, alteration of registration details, etc., to manage userregistration information.

FIG. 6 illustrates a logical configuration of user registrationinformation recorded in the user information database 53.

The user registration information is composed of items such as “monetaryterminal IDs”, “user names”, “refund accounts” and “e-mail addresses”.

The “monetary terminal IDs” are monetary terminal IDs of monetaryterminals owned by users, and the “user names” are names of the users inkatakana characters.

The “refund accounts” are pieces of information specifying financialaccounts to which a refund is made in the case where money remitted tothe center account 31 by the users is refunded for some reason, and the“e-mail addresses” are destinations to which notification mail istransmitted.

The reason why the names of the users are registered in katakanacharacters herein is that they are compared to names transmitted fromthe banking system 3 (which are normally represented in katakanacharacters).

In addition to these pieces of information, the user registrationinformation contains personal information of the users, such as thedates of registration, the dates of birth, phone numbers and user namesrepresented in Chinese characters, and authentication information suchas user IDs and passwords.

The authentication information is used by the users logging in to thecell phone website 32 and the PC website 33. [Remitted money processingfunction]

The electronic money server 2 temporarily holds a sum of money remittedto the center account 31, and charges up the monetary terminal with theheld money upon request from the user.

This function is further divided into a remittance amount receptionfunction, a remittance amount storage function, and a charging-upfunction.

[Remittance Amount Reception Function]

The electronic money server 2 accesses the banking system 3 on a regularbasis, and receives remitter information and a remittance amount ofmoney remitted to the center account 31 after the last access but beforethe current access (pull-based information distribution).

Alternatively, when the center account 31 receives any remittance, aremittance amount and remitter information may be automaticallytransmitted from the banking system 3 to the electronic money server 2(push-based information distribution).

[Remittance Amount Storage Function]

When the electronic money server 2 receives the remittance amount andthe remitter information from the banking system 3, the electronic moneyserver 2 extracts the name of the user represented in katakanacharacters and the monetary terminal ID from the remitter information.

Then, the extracted name and ID are checked against combinations ofmonetary terminal IDs and user names represented in katakana charactersthat are registered with the user registration information 54, and ifthere is a match, the user and the monetary terminal are identified.

After the user is identified, the amount of remitted money is recordedto the remittance amount database 54.

FIG. 7 illustrates a logical configuration of remittance amountinformation recorded in the remittance amount database 54.

The remittance amount information is composed of “monetary terminalIDs”, “amounts”, “expiration dates”, “charging-up”, and other items.

The “monetary terminal IDs” are monetary terminal IDs extracted fromremitter information, and remittance amount data indicates remittanceamounts transmitted from the banking system 3.

Thus, the electronic money server 2 can manage the amount of moneyremitted to the center account 31 in such a manner as to classify themby monetary terminal ID.

Therefore, when money is remitted to the center account 31 a pluralityof number of times for the same monetary terminal ID, the money isaccumulated.

In addition, there is no upper limit to the amount of money that is tobe accumulated in the remittance amount database 54.

Here, the remittance amount database 54 constitutes an amountaccumulation section for accumulating the amount of money remitted tothe center account 31 for each monetary terminal, and the electronicmoney server 2 decreases the accumulated amount for each monetaryterminal having received amount update information.

Note that in the present embodiment, when a remittance amount is equalto or more than a predetermined amount (e.g., 125,000), the remittanceamount is divided (broken) into unit amounts (e.g., 125,000), each ofwhich is set as a charge-up unit, i.e., a unit of amount that can beused per charging-up. In addition, when the remittance amount is lessthan 125,000, that amount is set as a charge-up unit.

The reason why the charge-up unit is set in this manner is that there isan amount limit to the balance of “VALUE” that can be stored in themonetary terminal (e.g., 150,000), and the purpose thereof is to preventthe amount limit from being exceeded by a single event of charging-up.

In the example of FIG. 7, 159,800 is remitted for the monetary terminalID “12345678”, and divided into three charge-up units: two units of“125,000” and a fraction of “19,800”.

The “expiration dates” are time limits up to which the remitted moneycan be used for charging-up, and a time period for which the remittedmoney can be used is set to, for example, 90 days. When that time periodis passed, the money is refunded to a refund account designated by userregistration information.

The “charging-up” is flag information for distinguishing charge-up unitsstored in the remittance amount database 54 into two types: used andunused for charging up the monetary terminal.

In the example of FIG. 7, the fraction of 19,800 of the divided amounthas already been used for charging up the monetary terminal withmonetary terminal ID “12345678”.

Although not shown, the remittance amount database 54 also contains flaginformation for identifying charge-up units that have already beenrefunded to refund accounts, for example, because their expiration dateshave passed.

[Charging-Up Function]

When a monetary terminal registers a charge-up unit with the remittanceamount database 54, the electronic money server 2 (FIG. 3) retrieves anelectronic mail address associated with the ID of the monetary terminalhaving performed the registration from the user information database 53,and transmits notification mail to the electronic mail address.

Thereafter, for example, when the user requests charging-up with “VALUE”after viewing the notification mail, the electronic money server 2transmits amount update information to the monetary terminal to chargeup the monetary terminal with “VALUE”.

The procedure for charging up with “VALUE” will be described in detaillater with reference to a flowchart. [Transaction processing function]

The electronic money server 2 collects log data concerning transactionsby “VALUE” for each monetary terminal, and records the collected data tothe transaction information database 55.

The log data is transmitted from the electronic money terminals 8 bybatch processing, or generated and recorded when charging-up of amonetary terminal or a settlement is performed via the Internet 4.

Next, a hardware configuration of the electronic money server 2 isdescribed with reference to FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, the electronic money server 2 includes a CPU 75, aROM 76, a RAM 77, a communication control section 78, a memory section79, etc., which are connected by a path line 82.

The CPU 75 performs information processing in accordance withpredetermined programs, and controls the entire electronic money server2.

The ROM 76 is a read-only memory having stored therein programs andparameters that are essential to the operation of the electronic moneyserver 2.

The RAM 77 is a readable/writable memory, which provides working memoryfor the CPU 75, and loads and stores programs and data stored in thememory section 79.

The communication control section 78 is a functional portion forcommunicating with the cell phone 7 via the Internet 4 and the basestation 5, and communicating with the electronic money terminal 8 viathe communication line.

The CPU 75 is capable of receiving information concerning transactionsby the electronic money card 15 and the cell phone 7 from the electronicmoney terminal 8 via the communication control section 78, and alsocapable of communication for charging up the cell phone 7 and theelectronic money card 15 or making a settlement.

The memory section 79 is composed of, for example, a hard disk oranother type of nonvolatile memory, and includes a program storageportion 80 having various programs stored therein, and a data storageportion 81 having data stored therein.

The program storage portion 80 has stored therein, for example, an OS,which is a basic program for causing the electronic money server 2 tofunction, and an administering program for causing the electronic moneyserver 2 to administer the electronic money system 1.

The administering program is executed by the CPU 75 for carrying outeach of the above-described functions.

In addition, the data storage portion 81 has formed therein the userinformation database 53, the remittance amount database 54, thetransaction information database 55 and other databases as shown in FIG.3.

Described next is the procedure for, in the electronic money system 1 asdescribed above, charging up the monetary terminal with money remittedto the center account 31.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure from bankremittance to the center account 31 by the user to recording ofinformation concerning the remittance to the remittance amount database54.

First, the user remits money to the center account 31 from an ATM or awebsite of a financial institution.

At this time, the user inputs remitter information by entering his/hername in katakana characters and then a monetary terminal ID of amonetary terminal that is desired to be charged up.

When the remittance is made to the center account 31, the banking system3 transmits the remittance amount and the remitter information to theelectronic money server 2 (step 5). This may be performed by pull-basedinformation distribution or push-based information distribution.

The electronic money server 2 receives the remittance amount and theremitter information from the banking system 3, and separately extractsthe remitter name in katakana characters and the monetary terminal IDfrom the remitter information (step 10).

As such, the electronic money server 2 includes an amount acquisitionsection for acquiring an amount remitted to the center account 31 and anID of a monetary terminal as a remittance destination from the bankingsystem 3.

Next, the electronic money server 2 checks a combination of theextracted requester name in katakana characters and monetary terminal IDagainst combinations of user names in katakana characters and monetaryterminal IDs that are registered with the user information database 53(step 15).

When one or both of the name in katakana characters and the monetaryterminal ID do not have a match, the electronic money server 2 returnsmoney to the financial account from which the user has transferred themoney.

Note that the electronic money server 2 deducts a fee required forrefund from the amount of refund. That is, the refund fee is paid by theuser. In addition, if the amount of refund is less than the fee, norefund is made.

The user may be previously notified in a contact clause or the likethat, for example, expenses incurred in relation to the refund are paidby the user.

On the other hand, when the combination of the name in katakanacharacters and the monetary terminal ID has a match, the electronicmoney server 2 can confirm that the remittance has been made by a validuser and identify the monetary terminal ID of the monetary terminal thatis to be charged up.

Next, the electronic money server 2 determines whether the remittanceamount exceeds a predetermined amount (e.g., 125,000) (step 20).

When the remittance amount is equal to or less than the predeterminedamount (N in step 20), the electronic money server 2 records theremittance amount as a charge-up unit to the remittance amount database54 (step 30). At this time, an expiration date is set.

When the remittance amount is more than the predetermined amount (Y instep 20), the electronic money server 2 divides the remittance amountinto charge-up units, each equal to or less than the predeterminedamount (step 25). Then, the pieces of the divided remittance amount arerecorded to the remittance amount database 54 along with the expirationdate (step 30).

As such, the electronic money server 2 includes a division section for,when an amount acquired from the banking system 3 exceeds apredetermined amount, dividing the acquired amount into unit amounts.

Thus, the electronic money server 2 is capable of storing the amountremitted to the center account 31 as a charging-up amount, therebycompleting preparation for charging-up.

Next, the procedure for charging up the monetary terminal with aremitted amount is described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 10.

Although the cell phone 7 is used herein as the monetary terminal, asimilar procedure is applied to the case of charging up the electronicmoney card 15.

The electronic money server 2 records remitted money as a charge-up unitto the remittance amount database 54, and thereafter, transmitsnotification mail from the user information database 53 to an electronicmail address registered by the user (step 50) (herein, it is assumedthat an electronic mail address for the cell phone 7 is registered).

The user receives the notification mail on the cell phone 7, andconfirms that the money remitted previously has been made available forcharging-up (step 55).

Then, the user uses the cell phone 7 to access the cell phone website 32(FIG. 1) (step 60).

When the user operates the cell phone 7 to access the cell phone website32, the electronic money server 2 transmits authentication screen datato the cell phone 7 to request user authentication (step 65).

The cell phone 7 receives the authentication screen data from theelectronic money server 2, and displays an authentication screen on thedisplay of the cell phone 7 based on the received data.

The authentication screen asks for entering a user ID and a password,and the user enters authentication information, i.e., the ID and thepassword, using numeric keys, character keys and operating keys on thecell phone 7 and transmits the information to the electronic moneyserver 2 (step 70).

The electronic money server 2 receives the authentication informationfrom the cell phone 7, and checks it against authentication informationstored in the user information database 53 to authenticate and identifythe user. When the authentication is successful, the electronic moneyserver 2 transmits top screen data to the cell phone 7 (step 75).

Upon receipt of the top screen data from the electronic money server 2,the cell phone 7 displays a top screen on the display based on the topscreen data.

The top screen displays a list of services available to the user, andindicates that the remitted money can be used for charging-up.

Then, when the user requests charging-up, the cell phone 7 acquires amonetary terminal ID and the balance of “VALUE” from the electronicmoney function portion 12, and transmits them to the electronic moneyserver 2 (step 80).

The electronic money server 2 receives (at an amount reception section)the monetary terminal ID and the balance of “VALUE” from the cell phone7, and checks whether the received monetary terminal ID matches anymonetary terminal ID registered in the user information database 53 inorder to ensure the security. Thereafter, charge-up screen data isgenerated based on the amount stored in the remittance amount database54, and transmitted to the cell phone 7 (step 85).

The cell phone 7 receives the charge-up screen data from the electronicmoney server 2, and displays a charge-up screen on the display.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary charge-up screen.

As shown in the figure, the charge-up screen presents items such as“receivable amount”, “current balance of VALUE” and “balance afterreception”.

The “receivable amount” indicates, along with an expiration date, acharge-up unit available for charging-up stored as remittance amountdata in the remittance amount database 54 (FIG. 7).

In the example of the figure, a single charge-up unit such as “¥1,000(expiration date: 2004/7/7)” is shown, but in the case where theremitted amount is divided into a plurality of charge-up units, they arelisted so that the user can select any charge-up unit for use incharging-up.

In addition, the charge-up units may be used in other manners, such asusing them in order from closest expiration date, and if there arecharge-up units having the same expiration date, they are used in orderfrom smallest amount.

The “current balance of VALUE” indicates the balance of “VALUE” receivedfrom the cell phone 7. The “balance after reception” indicates thebalance after charging-up is performed. This is obtained by theelectronic money server 2 adding the receivable amount to the currentbalance of “VALUE”.

Note that when the balance after reception exceeds an allowable limitfor charging-up, the charge-up screen indicates it to notify the userthat charging-up is not available.

In addition, when there are charge-up units that, when added, may andmay not exceed the allowable limit, an indication as such is providedand any charge-up unit that does not exceed the allowable limit can beselected.

As such, the electronic money server 2 generates and transmits amountupdate information within the range that does not exceed the allowablelimit previously set for the cell phone 7.

Furthermore, the charge-up screen also presents an execute button forexecuting charging-up, a return button for returning to the previouspage and a cancel button for canceling entered content (e.g., selectionof a charge-up unit), and the user selects any of them by operating theoperating buttons on the cell phone 7.

Referring back to FIG. 10, when the user selects the execute button torequest charging-up (step 90), the electronic money server 2 generatesamount update information for adding an amount of “VALUE” equivalent toa charge-up unit, and transmits it to the cell phone 7 (step 95).

As such, the electronic money server 2 includes an amount updateinformation transmission section for transmitting to a cell phone 7identified by a monetary terminal ID, amount update information forincreasing “VALUE” by a predetermined amount so as not exceed a remittedamount.

The cell phone 7 receives the amount update information from theelectronic money server 2, and inputs it to the electronic moneyfunction portion 12 to perform charging-up (step 100).

Upon completion of charging-up, the cell phone 7 transmits a completionnotice to the electronic money server 2 (step 105).

Upon receipt of the completion notice from the cell phone 7, theelectronic money server 2 confirms success in charging-up, and updatesthe remittance amount database 54 (step 110).

At this time, the transaction information database 55 is also updated.

As for the remittance amount database 54, charged-up flag information isset for the charge-up unit used for charging-up to record that thecharge-up unit has been used.

As such, the electronic money server 2 includes an amount decreasesection for setting charged-up flag information to decrease the amountof remitted money by an amount by which to increase “VALUE” based ontransmitted amount update information.

As for the transaction information database 55, log data that has beengenerated when charging-up the cell phone 7 is recorded.

As described above, the monetary terminal can be charged up with “VALUE”in charge-up units stored in the remittance amount database 54.

The present embodiment as described above achieves the followingeffects:

(1) A monetary terminal can be charged up by remitting .a fund to anaccount in a financial institution such as a bank.

(2) A monetary terminal that is to be charged up can be identified byentering a monetary terminal ID in the remitter field of a remittancescreen for the financial institution.

(3) The amount of remitted money can be divided into charge-up units forcharging-up.

(4) When the expiration date for the remitted money has reached, themoney can be refunded to the user's refund account.

Note that in the present embodiment, when remitting money, the userenters his/her name and a monetary terminal ID as remitter information,but any information can be used as the remitter information so long as amonetary terminal that is to be charged up can be identified, and it isalso possible to use only the monetary terminal ID, for example.

Furthermore, it is also possible to enter other information that canidentify the monetary terminal ID, rather than entering the monetaryterminal ID itself.

For example, the electronic money server 2 stores a character string inassociation with the monetary terminal ID, and the user enters thecharacter string as the remitter information, instead of entering themonetary terminal ID. The user can set any character string that isreadily memorized to reduce the user's burden involved with entering theremitter information.

In addition, it is also possible to provide a destination account forremittance with information for distinguishing the monetary terminal,rather than the remitter information.

In this case, for example, the user is caused to enter information foridentifying the monetary terminal after the account number of the centeraccount 31, and the electronic money server 2 identifies, based on thisinformation, the monetary terminal that is to be charged up.

Also, in the present embodiment, the user can perform charging-up incharge-up units, but it is also possible to allow the user to designatean amount that can be used for charging-up.

Specifically, the remittance amount database 54 records a total amountof money remitted to the center account 31, and the user arbitrarilydesignates the amount that can be used for charging-up within the rangeof the total amount but not beyond an allowable limit for the monetaryterminal.

Then, the electronic money server 2 generates amount update informationfor adding the designated amount, and transmits it to the monetaryterminal, while subtracting the amount used for charging-up from thetotal amount.

What is claimed is:
 1. A monetary information processing serverconfigured to communicate with: (a) a first monetary terminal configuredto store a first monetary value; and (b) a financial system including asingle first predetermined financial account, the monetary informationprocessing server comprising: a processor; and a memory deviceoperatively coupled to the processor, the memory device storinginstructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: (a) acquire, from the financial system: (i) an amount, the amountbeing withdrawn from the single first predetermined financial account;and (ii) monetary terminal identification information by a user input;(b) in response to the monetary terminal identification information: (i)store a first accumulation amount using the amount for the firstmonetary terminal; (ii) in response to the amount exceeding apredetermined amount, divide the amount being withdrawn from the singlefirst predetermined financial account by the predetermined amount intounit amounts, wherein the unit amounts are less than or equal to thepredetermined amount; (iii) in response to the amount from the financialsystem being acquired, transmit a transmission preparation completionnotice to a destination associated with the first monetary terminal;(iv) in response to the transmission preparation completion notice beingtransmitted to the destination associated with the first monetaryterminal, transmit, to the first monetary terminal, first amount updateinformation for increasing the first monetary value stored in the firstmonetary terminal by a first charge-up amount which is equal to the unitamounts, the first charge-up amount not exceeding the first accumulationamount; and (v) decrease the stored first accumulation amount by thefirst charge-up amount, and store a second accumulation amount as aremaining balance from the amount acquired from the financial systemless the first charge-up amount.
 2. The monetary information processingserver of claim 1, wherein the first monetary terminal includes a cellphone.
 3. The monetary information processing server of claim 1, whereinthe first monetary terminal includes an IC chip configured to increaseor decrease the first monetary value stored in the first monetaryterminal.
 4. The monetary information processing server of claim 1,wherein the first monetary terminal includes an electronic money card.5. The monetary information processing server of claim 1, wherein thefinancial system includes a banking system.
 6. The monetary informationprocessing server of claim 1, wherein the destination associated withthe first monetary terminal is an electronic mail address.
 7. Themonetary information processing server of claim 1, the monetary terminalidentification information is associated with the first monetaryterminal.
 8. The monetary information processing server of claim 1,wherein the predetermined amount is equal to one half of the firstmonetary amount.
 9. The monetary information processing server of claim1, wherein the predetermined amount is less than one half of the firstmonetary amount.
 10. The monetary information processing server of claim1, further comprising a second monetary terminal including a second cellphone.
 11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storinginstructions which, when executed, cause at least one processor in amonetary information processing server to: (a) acquire, from a financialsystem including a single first predetermined financial account: (i) anamount, the amount being withdrawn from the single first predeterminedfinancial account; and (ii) monetary terminal identification informationby a user input; (b) in response to the monetary terminal identificationinformation: (i) store a first accumulation amount using the amount fora first monetary terminal, the first monetary terminal is configured tostore a first monetary value; (ii) in response to the amount exceeding apredetermined amount, divide the amount being withdrawn from the singlefirst predetermined financial account by the predetermined amount intounit amounts, wherein the unit amounts are less than or equal to thepredetermined amount; (iii) in response to the amount from the financialsystem being acquired, transmit a transmission preparation completionnotice to a destination associated with the first monetary terminal;(iv) in response to the transmission preparation completion notice beingtransmitted to the destination associated with the first monetaryterminal, transmit, to the first monetary terminal, first amount updateinformation for increasing the first monetary value stored in the firstmonetary terminal by a first charge-up amount which is equal to the unitamounts, the first charge-up amount not exceeding the first accumulationamount; and (v) decrease the stored first accumulation amount by thefirst charge-up amount, and store a second accumulation amount as aremaining balance from the amount acquired from the financial systemless the first charge-up amount.
 12. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the first monetary terminalincludes a cell phone.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the first monetary terminal includes an ICchip configured to increase or decrease the first monetary value storedin the first monetary terminal.
 14. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 11, wherein the first monetary terminal includesan electronic money card.
 15. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 11, wherein the financial system includes abanking system.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 11, wherein the destination associated with the first monetaryterminal is an electronic mail address.
 17. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 11, the monetary terminalidentification information is associated with the first monetaryterminal.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein the predetermined amount is equal to one half of thefirst monetary amount.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount is less than onehalf of the first monetary amount.